Fermentation

[LewBrew88]

Hey guys, I am brewing a clone of Old Chub and I need to know if I have lost this beer. I checked it on Monday and it had really good fermentation going. I went back and checked it tonight and at some point the pressure popped the airlock completely off leaving the open hole in the lid. I ferment in a temp controlled chest freezer. Have I lost this beer since it was exposed to the open air in the freezer?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[ElChangoGuero]

Hopefully not! Apparently you have a very healthy fermentation going on, put a hose on the lid and use it as a blow off tube, continue the fermentation as you would and try out the beer, i dont think anything weird would fall into the beer if its in a chest freezer,

 

[brewbama]

Probably not. Some breweries use open air fermenters. Some say there is a CO2 layer over the beer during fermentation. The air lock is to keep fruit flies, spiders, etc out of you beer which probably didn't get in with it in a freezer. Google 'open air fermentation'

 

[LewBrew88]

Well that gives me hope. Thanks guys. I've got it fixed up with the blow off now and my fingers are crossed.

 

[psujeeperman02]

Doubt you lost it. There is probably a nice blanket of CO2 on top which would have protected it from oxy harming the beer.

 

[RM-MN]

You only need to keep bacteria from settling on the beer and getting a start. Since the beer will be outgassing CO2 for some time the bacteria, not being very good swimmers, are not likely to be able to get through the stream of CO2 being expelled through that small opening.